


Sing it!

by Anker



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 12:18:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12704856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anker/pseuds/Anker
Summary: Liam works at a karaoke bar. He meets the love of his life.





	Sing it!

**Author's Note:**

> I needed a break from the fic I'm writing for NaNoWriMo, and then this happened.  
> English is actually not my first language, so I hope it's not full of mistakes!

Liam is a hopeless romantic.

He’s a bit ashamed of the fact, but it’s the truth. He’s known it since he was a little kid and thought gifting a girl a bouquet of roses meant you could rest assured you had just won your way into her heart.

He’s twenty-two now, and he’s learned quite a lot since then.

First: winning hearts is not really his specialty. Liam’s version of flirting is being extra nice to someone, smiling extra wide at them, and looking at them with a face that says ‘please marry me I like your shoulders’.

At least, that’s what he’s doing right now, while he’s throwing longing glances to the handsome, lanky boy across the room, the one with the T-shirt that’s just a bit too wide for him, and the dark hair that keeps falling across his forehead, no matter how much he pushes it back in position.

Second: when he pictures himself in the future, the married-and-settled-down-version of himself who’s winning at life, there’s always a nice girl by his side. In reality though, the people Liam usually falls for, who catch his eye, are guys.

He is not particularly fazed by this.  
The love of his life can be a hobbit for all he cares.

Liam just wishes they would hurry and get here already, because he’s kind of tired of being alone.

“Got it?”

Liam blinks out of his reverie and glances at Niall, who has just closed the cash register with a loud click and is looking at Liam with a look that says I know you weren’t listening.

Liam grins sheepishly.  
It’s his first night as a waiter at the karaoke bar, and he’s already feeling overwhelmed.

Niall seems nice, though, and the job doesn’t seem to be too difficult. Hard work, yes, but not difficult.  
It’s the boy at the other side of the bar, sitting in a booth all by himself, that has Liam feeling like he’s dropped his brain somewhere between the cracks on the sidewalk on his way here.

“Yeah, yeah, it’ll be fine”, Liam says to Niall, who doesn’t really seem to believe it but nods anyway.

“Okay. I’ll be right over there. Call if you need anything.”

Liam nods, then nods again and flashes a big grin at Niall, who just shakes his head and walks away from the bar to take people’s orders.

Liam eyes the bottles around him nervously. He doesn’t drink all that much, and suddenly he’s thinking that maybe he should. He can tell a bottle of Vodka from a bottle of Scotch just fine, but he might be in over his head here.

This is confirmed when a boy walks up to the bar and orders a cocktail Liam has never even heard of.

He eyes the boy nervously. He’s wearing a jeans jacket, and his brown hair is styled in some sort of quiff that could also be accidental (but Liam’s pretty sure it isn’t). His light blue eyes are bright and good humoured enough, but Liam swallows nervously anyway.

“Um”, he mutters, and wipes his sweaty hands on the side of his jeans.  
Shit, he thinks, shit, think of something to ask. Something not too obvious.

“Do you want that on the rocks?” he blurts out.  
The other boy laughs and slams his hand down on the bar.

“Sorry man, I’m just messing with you”, he admits, “but the look on your face was priceless. I’ll just have a beer, actually.”

Liam’s too relieved to get pissed about the prank, instead just quickly pulls a bottle of beer out of the fridge and opens it. He can handle beer, at least.

“Two thirty please.”  
The other boy nods his head to the music while he counts out his money and hands it to Liam.

“I’m Louis, by the way”, he says then, “it’s your first night, right?”  
Liam nods, and shakes Louis’ hand.

“Liam”, he introduces himself, feeling a little better now that he’s apparently managed to make a friend on his first day at work.

“Nice to meet you Liam”, Louis grins, “good luck tonight. If a certain curly haired guy comes over and asks the most complicated cocktail ever made by humankind, just tell him Tommo says to piss off and order a beer, alright?”

He walks away without waiting for Liam’s answer. Liam stares after him.

He notices Louis walks right to the booth where the dark-haired guy Liam has been ogling all night is sitting, and easily slides into the seat next to him.  
He appears to be telling a funny story, because the mysterious boy laughs quietly, and then he looks up and locks eyes with Liam.

Fuck.  
Liam quickly turns around and pretends to straighten the glasses on the shelves behind the bar.

He survives his first night only barely, but he likes the job. Talking to customers comes easily to him, and no one really minds when he doesn’t immediately know how to make their order, as long as he hands it over with a joke and a smile.

When a curly-haired boy with dimples and a smile too big for this kind of bar comes over and rattles off a list of ingredients he wants to go into his cocktail, Liam looks at him for a second and hears himself saying:

“Tommo says a beer will do just fine.”

The boy throws his head back, laughs really loud, and then introduces himself as Harry.

Liam shakes his head when Harry walks to Louis’ booth, beer in his hand. The boy with the dark hair catches him looking at them again, and smirks.

Liam grabs a glass that’s already clean and dunks it in the water.

*

They are there every Friday night, Liam notices.  
By now, he has managed to catch the name of the boy with the dark hair.

_Zayn_.

By now, he also needs to admit that, okay, he may just have a tiny crush on Zayn.  
They haven’t really spoken actually: Zayn doesn’t drink much, and when he’s at the bar, Liam is usually too flustered to make much conversation, which means Zayn returns to his booth without anything happening, Liam looking dejectedly at his retreating back each time.

Harry and Louis notice. Of course they notice. By the third Friday, they are elbowing each other in the ribs each time Zayn approaches the bar - which is a lot more often than usual, Liam can’t help but notice.

“You on duty to get the drinks tonight?” he asks Zayn shyly while he opens three beer bottles and places them in front of the boy.  
Zayn nods, counts out his money and hands it to Liam.

“Yeah, I am”, he says, and then falters.

Liam nods. Nods a second time.  
Desperately tries to think of something to say, and can’t think of anything.

He’s sweating again, he knows, and the panic must be written loud and clear in his eyes, because Harry and Louis are basically falling over themselves laughing.

“You never sing”, he finally blurts. Zayn, who was already turning around to leave, turns back to him immediately, looking surprised.

“What?”

Liam coughs nervously.

“I - um, I noticed that you never sing. On stage. I mean your friends do but you… I just noticed”, he finishes lamely and he considers breaking a glass and sticking a shard in his eye to distract Zayn from the car wreck that is his attempt at a conversation.

Zayn just smirks ( _I want to be that smirk_ , Liam thinks, then almost rolls his eyes at himself) and moves one shoulder in a shrug that could mean anything.

“Maybe I’ll sing tonight”, is all he says before walking back to the booth they always sit at - seriously, Liam is pretty sure that if anyone else tried to sit there, Louis would go all _How I met your mother on their ass_ and forcibly remove them.

Liam swallows, grabs a few dirty glasses and begins cleaning them aggressively.

Right when he thinks he might end the night with a few glass splinters in his hands, Louis saunters over and puts his beer bottle on the counter with an unnecessary amount of flair. Harry is right behind him, grinning and looking as if he’s going to ride away on his magical unicorn that’s parked right outside the door any moment now.

“So”, Louis almost shouts, “we’ve noticed you have a crush on our friend.”

Liam gulps (really, _gulps_ ) as he stares at them.

“Um.”

“Don’t try to bullshit us”, Louis warns, “you’ve been staring at him with puppy eyes three Fridays in a row now.”

Harry is grinning even wider than he was a second ago.

“You would be perfect for Zayn”, he declares, “you know, to balance out his moodiness, and we think he’s into you because he doesn’t complain when we make him go to the bar anymore.”

Liam looks from one boy to another, head reeling. Are they being serious?

“Besides, when you and Zayn hook up you can get us free drinks”, Louis adds smugly.

Liam wants to roll his eyes at that, but Niall’s just come behind the bar to drop off some dirty glasses, and he’s pretty sure rolling your eyes at customers doesn’t help you keep your job.

“Thanks guys”, he says, “but I’m not - I mean, I guess - I’m just not great at this sort of thing.”

Harry scoffs, and it takes Liam by surprise because Harry doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would do something like scoff.

“What time do you get off work?”

“Um - Tim’s supposed to be here at two to take the next shift, but-“

“It’s decided then”, Harry cuts in quickly, “when Tim gets here, you join us.”

They disappear again before Liam can protest.

When Tim enters behind the bar at two am, Liam is tired, and sweaty, and he actually just wants to go home and crawl in his bed, but Louis has spotted him putting on his jacket and is waving him over.

Liam is not a coward, but he’s convinced you don’t want to cross Louis Tomlinson - so he shrugs off his jacket again and makes his way over to the three boys.

“Hi”, he says nervously when he takes the seat next to Zayn, who looks at him and nods once.  
“Finally”, Harry exclaims happily, “we were afraid your song would start while you were still working!”

Wait, what?

Louis and Harry are both looking way too happy with themselves when the next song is announced, and it turns out they entered both Liam and Zayn.

Liam needs a second to let that sink in - both Zayn and him. Both. Up on stage, supposed to sing a song together. His hands are clutching his beer bottle desperately, and he wishes he could just crawl under the table and die there.

Zayn and him. Him and Zayn. Supposed to get up there and sing Wonderwall together.  
Bloody hell.

He catches Zayn’s eye, who pulls one corner of his mouth up into a semi-smile and shrugs.

“Might as well”, he says, and it catches Liam off guard. Zayn doesn’t seem like the person to just go along with this. But apparently he does - in fact, he’s already standing up and all Liam can do is scramble along and pray to every god in existence that he doesn’t make a complete fool of himself.

Not before he looks at Louis and Harry with the dirtiest look he can muster, though.  
They both give him the thumbs-up.

Jerks.

Turns out Zayn has the voice of an angel because really, why wouldn’t he?

Liam likes singing, and he’s not completely off-key, in fact he might even be not off-key at all.

He’s surprised when in the middle of the song he finally looks at the other boy, who is already looking at him and raises both his eyebrows, immediately causing Liam to stutter in his next line.

Zayn grins, and Liam grins back, raises his hand in a ‘hey, what can you do’-kind of move. He realises he’s actually having fun, and grins even wider.

“You were great”, he tells Zayn when they leave the stage. Zayn flashes him a big grin, and it kind of takes Liam’s breath away for a second.  
God, he’s such a cliché.  
“You were not too bad yourself”, Zayn says to him when they sit back down again.

Both Louis and Harry are looking at them intently, but Liam ignores them. He’ll get them back for this, somehow. He has a short fantasy about squirting some dish soap into their drinks next Friday, but puts it out of his head to focus on the boy sitting next to him.

Apparently, now that they’ve sung together, Zayn has decided that they’re going to be friends, and he’s chattering away about everything and nothing. Which is just as well, because Liam has been trying to think of conversation starters for three weeks now, and he’s still got nothing.

*

Once they get talking, it’s like they can’t stop. A few weeks later, Liam is hunched over laughing, his forehead on the table as he’s trying to catch his breath. He’s sure there’s tears rolling down his cheeks, and he thinks to himself: _why was I so afraid of this boy?_

Because apparently Zayn is nothing to be afraid of - he’s just a kind guy with a great sense of humour who likes the same things Liam likes, and who is fun to sit next to on a Friday night.

Liam wouldn’t mind sitting next to him, and eating next to him, watching telly next to him and oh maybe waking up next to him every other day of the week as well, but he doesn’t say this.

In fact, neither him nor Zayn has hinted at the possibility that what’s between them might be more than just an instant friendship. Harry and Louis do of course, repeatedly and relentlessly, but the other boys clam up each time they start dropping hints.

Liam wonders if Zayn is just as shy as he is, or if he’s just not interested.  
He’s not sure if he wants to know the answer.

In the meantime, Louis and Harry have taken it upon themselves to make them sing cheesier songs each week. Last week it was My heart will go on, and this week, apparently, they are supposed to sing Don’t go breaking my heart.

Afterwards, they fall back into their booth, and this is another thing Zayn has started doing: no matter what formation they’re sitting in, he always finds some way to touch Liam. An arm across the back of the booth that touches his shoulder every once in a while, a foot against his under the table, knees bumping…

There’s no way he’s doing it by accident, Liam thinks, but he can’t be completely sure about that, so he doesn’t take the risk and just goes along with it without ever initiating the contact.

This time, Zayn sits as close to Liam as he possibly could, pressing their sides together, and Liam almost downs his pint in one go as he’s trying to look like he’s not flustered.

Apparently, their rendition of the song has gotten Louis and Harry to talk about true love. It seems to be a real discussion this time, not one they’re putting on for Liam and Zayn’s benefit.

“I don’t know”, Louis says, “it’s not like you just know. That’s how everyone portrays it, but that’s not how it happens, is it? It’s always a risk, no matter when or with who you take the leap.”

Harry protests this, saying that love isn’t a risk, it’s an opportunity, but Louis rolls his eyes. Liam feels Zayn shift beside him, almost as if he’s trying to get Liam’s attention, but he keeps his eyes on his beer bottle and hopes the irregular beating of his heart isn’t the foreboding of a heart attack because well, that would be awkward.

“Love is everywhere”, Harry declares.

Louis snorts.

“Yeah, but only for the minority. Like, if you watch the movies and reads the books - you’d think there’s so many opportunities to find the love of your life, right? But who really bumps into their next boyfriend while they’re buying eggs at the supermarket? Or while running to catch their train just in time? No one, that’s who. It doesn’t happen like that. It’s just someone you meet at work, or at school, or through friends, not by some crazy coincidence. That’s not real.”

His voice sounds harsh, but Harry doesn’t seem to notice.

“You’ve got to take the risk and trust yourself to be part of the minority.”  
Harry smiles at Liam in a way that could be described as encouraging while he says this.

“Think about it”, he goes on excitedly, “how absolutely crazy would it be if five years from now Liam can say: I started working at a karaoke bar even though I was a shit bartender, and I met the love of my life?”

Liam freezes, and he feels Zayn freeze next to him.  
Oh no, he thinks, oh no no no.

“I’m not a shit bartender”, is all he can think of, and then he really wants to crawl under the table because, seriously Liam? That’s the part of that statement he wants to contest?

“You are a shit bartender”, Zayn says next to him in a low voice. He still hasn’t moved, and when Liam meets his dark eyes they are looking at him steadily.

He opens his mouth, closes it again, and he tries but he can’t bring himself to look away.

“Not a bad singer though”, Zayn goes on, a smile playing around his lips. Liam realises he’s holding his breath and releases it. He thinks he’s supposed to say something now, but to be honest, his brain has stopped working, it’s a miracle that he manages to stay upright and doesn’t sink to the floor in a puddle, because - _Zayn_.

He’s vaguely aware of Harry and Louis still bickering in the background, of Niall passing by with a platter of drinks and chuckling his name.  
It doesn’t matter. Niall could drop his entire platter in Liam’s lap right now and he still wouldn’t be able to tear his eyes away from the boy in front of him.

“I - yeah, thanks”, he’s finally capable of saying, “you’re um, okay yourself.”  
He wants to hit himself as soon as the words are out of his mind, but Zayn just laughs and leans a bit more against him.

He’s desperately trying to think of something else to say, when Zayn’s hand slips under the table and rests on Liam’s thigh. He just leaves it there while he’s sipping his pint. Liam thinks he might faint, and it’s only because of divine intervention that he doesn’t. When he gets home, he needs to sacrifice something, he thinks, just for this.

Zayn isn’t looking at him though, nervously fumbling with the label on his beer bottle instead. His hand twitches on Liam’s leg, and he looks as if he’s already regretting putting it there.

So Liam takes a deep breath, downs the rest of his beer as liquid courage, and then puts his hand on Zayn’s.  
Zayn’s fingers tangle with his immediately, and the smile he flashes Liam is so big, it actually blinds him for a second.  
(If he ever doubted the fact that he’s still the biggest romantic to walk this planet, that doubt would be gone as off now, Liam thinks.)

He grins back at Zayn, grips his hand a little tighter and thinks: Yeah. Starting work in a karaoke bar as a shitty bartender - and meeting the love of your love. Crazy.


End file.
